i bought the DVD today, watched it... FREAKING AWESOME. it was classic Futurama... it seemed slightly off, like maybe it could've been better, but generally it was very awesome. and the ending is a cliffhangar... i so can't wait for the next DVD to come out.

and huge props to the writers for coming up with such a complex plot...

y'all hafta check out one of the special features, it's a full-length episode of Everybody Loves Hypnotoad.

I got my copy today and I'm watching it now I liked amy's brief appearance with long hair

Our revels now are ended. These our actors, As I foretold you, were all spirits, and Are melted into air, into thin air; And, like the baseless fabric of this vision, The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve, And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, Leave not a rack behind.

I agree with szh...it seemed slightly off. I enjoyed it...but it seemed a bit odd. The songs seemed really forced for one...

Our revels now are ended. These our actors, As I foretold you, were all spirits, and Are melted into air, into thin air; And, like the baseless fabric of this vision, The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve, And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, Leave not a rack behind.

If anything, I think it feels a bit off because it has the pacing of a 20 minute episode but they keep it up for an hour and a half. The beginning is a bit slow too. As for the songs, I think they were supposed to feel forced.

Anyway, I thought this was a great movie. I loved all the references to previous episodes too.

"My sexuality's not the most interesting thing about me."— Cosima Niehaus, Orphan Black, "Governed By Sound Reason and True Religion"

I quite enjoyed the repeated reference to the powder
Both me and my brother went 'what?' when we saw Mark Hamil's name in the credits, hehe. Totally didn't recognise his voice.

Our revels now are ended. These our actors, As I foretold you, were all spirits, and Are melted into air, into thin air; And, like the baseless fabric of this vision, The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve, And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, Leave not a rack behind.

Both me and my brother went 'what?' when we saw Mark Hamil's name in the credits, hehe. Totally didn't recognise his voice.

Well, Hamill's an accomplished voice artist, so it isn't always easy to recognize his voice when he's in character. He played the Chanukah Zombie.

I didn't think it was "off," aside from the animation being just a bit cruder than in the past. I didn't even notice that the score was electronic; it sounded much the same. I do agree that the songs weren't particularly good this time out; Christopher Tyng has done much better songs in the past.

It wasn't the greatest Futurama story ever, but it was a good one, and hey -- "We're back, baby!" That alone is immensely satisfying. (Not the line, but the fact it describes.) It was trying a bit too hard to fit in everyone and everything, but that's forgivable under the circumstances; this is the resurrection of the series, so I like it that it's sort of a celebration of everything that came before. It's kind of like paging through a family photo album.

And it did have a rather touching ending. Not up there with the greats, but moving nonetheless. I wonder...

Spoiler: click to show/hide

How will it change things now that Leela knows "the only man I'll ever love" was actually Fry? Will their romance begin for real in the next movie? But then, what with the universe apparently being rent asunder, will reality even be the same? (Though frankly I rather doubt they'll treat that as a cliffhanger to be resolved -- it felt more like the kind of gag ending that will just be ignored in the next installment.) (EDIT: No, apparently the second movie will be a direct followup to these events.)

I do have to wonder about the temporal issues here, though. It seems like the timeline's been changed, because before, we knew that Fry's family never found him. At least, it certainly seemed that way, based on the scene where Yancy named his son Philip in Fry's honor. I doubt the scene would've played that way if they'd known Fry was alive and well (and as we saw, the younger Philip was alive before Bender "killed" alt-Fry).

Favorite geek joke in the movie: Bender: "It's so cold my processor is operating at peak efficiency!" Though I'm also quite fond of "I'm sciencing as fast as I can!"

Oh, and note the Professor's bank account number: 299792458. The speed of light in meters per second.

I fast-forwarded through most of Everybody Loves Hypnotoad, so I may have missed a few audio-only gags. I have to admit, though, those eyes are kind of hypnotic.

The math lecture was neat, in an awkward, lecture-y kind of way. I learned some stuff -- not so much about math (already knew most of it), but about references to math that I hadn't caught before. I loved finding out about the Ramanujan references in the show (a "taxicab number" on a taxicab! Love it!), and I can't believe I missed the Aleph-null-plex sign!

Edited by Christopher, 30 November 2007 - 01:14 PM.

"You don't use science to show that you're right, you use science to become right." -- xkcd

"The first man to raise a fist is the man who's run out of ideas." -- "H. G. Wells," Time After Time

Our revels now are ended. These our actors, As I foretold you, were all spirits, and Are melted into air, into thin air; And, like the baseless fabric of this vision, The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve, And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, Leave not a rack behind.

I didn't really notice a huge drop in animation quality but the teaser before the opening credits didn't look quite as good as the rest of the movie. So that's the only place I really took a huge notice of it. I'd probably notice more if I were to watch an episode of the series followed by a few scenes from the movie.

I watched it again and I have to disagree about things feeling off. The main problem I have with the movie is they just try to cram too many characters into it. So it feels a bit cluttered. But it was a lot of fun trying to anticipate who would show up next and how they'd manage to fit them in. I'm just glad it's back and back in top form.

I have to agree when it comes to the math lecture. Good stuff. I still have to watch the Hypnotoad episode, if only for the advertisements.

Edited by NeuralClone, 30 November 2007 - 01:57 PM.

"My sexuality's not the most interesting thing about me."— Cosima Niehaus, Orphan Black, "Governed By Sound Reason and True Religion"

Amy's e-mail address is at "marslink.web," while Zoidberg's is at "freemail.web." Bender's is at "Ilovebender.com."

On Amy's laptop screen, one of the spam banners reads "pi for the price of i" (although it's the letter pi, not spelled out).

The book A Brief History of Time Travel is copyright 4972.

Swag stolen by Bender includes Van Gogh's self-portrait, a Super Bowl trophy (I think), what looks like an Olmec stone head, an Easter Island stone head, an American flag that's probably Betsy Ross's or some such, Michelangelo's David, the Venus de Milo with its arms, the Ten Commandments and the Ark of the Covenant (some trick), the Rosetta Stone, and R2-D2. Plus some guitar that they said in the commentaries was famous.

One of the entries in the phone book Bender looks through is "Frome, E."

The newspaper with the BUSH "WINS" headline is USA TOADY (sic).

"NEW YORK AQUARIUM: Welcome, Chum!"

And I love the "Family Guy 12 Laughs a Year" calendar. Which is being generous, if you ask me.

I just noticed --

Spoiler: click to show/hide

when Fry hatches his plan to replace the pen for the wedding license with one that's out of ink, Bender sarcastically remarks, "Yeah, then all hell will break loose." But then that's actually what does happen a few minutes later -- the pen switch causes Leela to stab Hermes with the pen, setting in motion the chain of events that causes hell to break loose and the wedding to be called off. So Fry's plan actually worked!

Oh, and my other favorite line: "To the mandatorium!"

"You don't use science to show that you're right, you use science to become right." -- xkcd

"The first man to raise a fist is the man who's run out of ideas." -- "H. G. Wells," Time After Time

I'm wondering if there's been some kind of genetic engineering or nanotech enhancement to improve the robustness of the human species by the 31st century. Rather than dying instantly, Hermes' head was only "slowly dying" after decapitation, suggesting some kind of built-in redundant life support -- and then there's the fact that he could talk without lungs!

And if there's some kind of bodywide nanotechnological repair system inside people, it would explain how an incompetent surgeon like Zoidberg is able to perform such miracles as reattaching severed heads. Presumably Fry would've had to be injected with these nanites at some point (perhaps by the Probulator at the cryo lab after his revival), since Zoidberg was able to attach his head successfully to Amy's body.

Of course, there's still the mystery of how the Head Museum can have heads of people who died before cryonic technology was invented, like Chester A. Arthur and Charles DeGaulle. The plot of this movie would seem to rule out my theory that there was time travel involved. The Hall of Screaming Skulls would suggest that it involves some kind of regeneration and reanimation from the remains of the dead; the SS would've perhaps been early test cases that didn't get regenerated successfully. As for the question of how a consciousness can be reanimated from decayed remains, I don't think I even want to tackle that one.

And yes, I know it's all a comedy cartoon universe. But it's such a rich and engaging universe that I like to speculate about such background issues.

One other thing I wonder about: how is it that Applied Cryogenics not only stayed in business for a thousand-plus years, but survived at least two total destructions of New York City? I guess the likely answer is that the Nibblonians were protecting it in order to ensure that Fry survived to the 3000s.

Edited by Christopher, 03 December 2007 - 01:26 PM.

"You don't use science to show that you're right, you use science to become right." -- xkcd

"The first man to raise a fist is the man who's run out of ideas." -- "H. G. Wells," Time After Time

Just aquired this and I have to say that I loved it. The time-travel got a tad tedious at times, but overall it was a brilliant show.

Defy Gravity!

The Doctor: The universe is big. It's vast and complicated and ridiculous and sometimes, very rarely, impossible things just happen and we call them miracles... and that's a theory. Nine hundred years and I've never seen one yet, but this will do me.